Restructuring education / school is killing our kids
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Anonymous
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Derepression, anxiety, suicidal ideation are at critical levels among youth in the US. Our education system is in part to blame and in part the root of the problem for many kids today. I work with youth and am hear everyday how kids feel hopeless, pressures, ostracized, tired, exhausted, overwhelmed, unhappy, unsatisfied, unmotivated, BORED, incapable, less than, disrespected, judged, under appreciated, unseen, unheard, misunderstood, and desperate in the school environment.
Why are we sending our kids into this broken system day after day after day after day knowing the impact it is having on their mental health? Why aren’t we changing education at its core rather than adding pseudo counseling supports at schools and mental health trainings? |
Anonymous
| I don't disagree, OP, but what do you see as a positive change that schools can/should make? Propose your solution. |
Anonymous
| I think social media and complete infiltration of phones/ipads/computers in the classroom plays a large role. These kids' brains are simply not ready for the onslaught of tech/social media and they are no longer able to focus and social media tanking self-esteem. I am SO MAD that the schools hand my kids their very own ipad to have All. Day. Long. Yes, the world is changing and tech is a big part of that, but they have their whole lives to learn to work with tech. Their brains are not ready!!!!! School closures also played a big role in increasing anxiety and isolation. I no longer feel our public school prioritize students and I am heartbroken I can't afford private. |
Anonymous
| My public school-educated kids are doing well mentally. In my observations, their friends and peers who are having the hardest time with mental health are responding to problems at home or in the world in general, or are spending way too much time on the internet. I see the schools paying a lot of attention to mental health and doing the best they can to help some of these kids deal with stressors they encounter outside of school, but I’m not exactly sure what else you’d have them do, OP. |
Anonymous
The root cause of the problems is parents. Parents are the ones who want ultra competitive schools. When my kids were young, people would stay up all night to get a spot in the right pre-school. At my kid's elementary, the parents drove the principal and teachers nuts about wanting more advanced classes. Parents have ruined sports. If we step back and look at things, parents have screwed this world up terribly. |
Anonymous
| My kids are doing ok in ES. Teachers are not using or sending chrome books home yay. They love the peer interaction qnd we do lots of fun learning at home as well. |
Anonymous
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What change do you really think you are bringing about with this post?
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Anonymous
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I agree with you. The current form of schooling is based on the colonial era where they had small schoolhouses with a few teachers teaching a small community of children. Obviously we've scaled that up to large buildings with many teachers, but the number of students has far exceeded the ratio of teachers. I don't know where to even begin with a modern solution, but we are forcing an outdated method into 2022 where the state of affairs has changed immensely. We are now in a locally globalized population with very wide discrepancies in SES and abilities.
The real answer is to have many more teachers in more rooms to have class sizes back in the 15 max range, but funding and space is the limiting factor. |
Anonymous
Disagree entirely. Classroom sizes of 25-35 kids is fine. Small classrooms are difficult, socially. The problem with the way progressive classrooms are run is the expectation of strong executive functioning skills from the beginning, from K and 1st and 2nd grade. In those grades, and through most of elementary school, those skills should be scaffolded and supported. Students should be taught what to do, expected to sit at a desk and behave appropriately rather than expected to move from station to station and complete complex tasks that are developmentally beyond them. Large class sizes are not a problem. They're good for a lot of students. Progressive teaching is a problem. |
Anonymous
+1000 I also would add that school days do not need to be 7 hours long 5 days a week. That is not how humans are wired to develop. Attention spans are not that long. 90 minute classes are absurd. Most adults can’t focus 90 minutes without caffeine or some sort of monetary motivation. Kids’ brains are not fully developed and attention spans are significantly shorter than an adult attention span. STOP EXPECTING STUDENTS TO BEHAVE LIKE ADULTS - THEY ARE KIDS WHO ARE STILL DEVELOPING. Teach more relevant subjects/curriculum. Think outside of semesters. Offer classes that last 2 weeks. 4 weeks. 6 weeks. Classes could be taught more like community education classes. Electives don’t need to be year long. How about mini electives that last 4 weeks? Short courses. Educational flexibility that allows education to take place outside of one’s LEA. Get rid of PE! Or shorten it to a 4 week short course learning the basics of kinesiology/health. Allow community classes like ballet, tkd, tennis, etc. count for PE credit. Already mentioned, but worth restating, student to teacher ratios need to be smaller. Class sizes are too large and a single human should not be expected to manage the behavior of 25+ students while expecting to teach lessons. I really can’t comprehend how teachers are doing this day in and day out. Imagine having 25 kids in your home for 6-7 hours a day that you are responsible for while planning and teaching multiple subjects while squeezing in time to correspond with all of their guardians and other teachers/principals and go to trainings and planning meetings every single moment the kids are not in your immediate care. And after those 6-7 hours of direct care/instruction you must continue to work on creating materials, shop for supplies, grading papers, documenting, collaborating, train, attend continuing Ed, answer emails, meet with parents, and clean your classroom, etc. it never ends. Reduce the standards of learning and shorten class time thereby shortening the school day. Bored students can opt into accelerated AP/honors classes that have additional SOL. change up the school calendar. 6 weeks of school/4 weeks off type of calendar. STOP DESIGNING EDUCATION AROUND THE WORK SCHEDULES OF ADULTS. If our country promoted parental responsibility of spending time with and raising our own children, we would not be looking for childcare solutions. Create a culture/society where there is an actual work/home balance. Rethink the workweek. |
Anonymous
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I really believe kids need to move and be outside more, especially at the elementary level. There’s too much focus on sitting, testing, staying inside unhealthy buildings with mold and poor air quality, etc. This is not how kids should spend their entire days.
The whole paradigm for education needs to change, but I don’t see that happening. Almost no lessons learned from the pandemic, which provided an opportunity to reimagine and recreate the idea of schooling in this country. Instead we have burned out teachers fleeing the profession, traumatized and anxious kids, and no plans to fix what’s broken. Sad state of affairs. |
Anonymous
| I went to school in Former Soviet union with a class size of 38 and one single teacher. No behavior issues whatsoever, but we did have a recess after 40 min of each class, 10 min for running around and playing physical games. I really believe that physical activity is the key for attention span for everyone, not just kids. |
Anonymous
A little while back, I read an article about a grade school in Texas where the principal mandated 60 minutes of recess for every class. Teachers complained at first that they wouldn't have enough time to teach anything -- but they found that students were better behaved and more engaged during the day with more recess time. I also think block scheduling in high school and in middle school (!) is a terrible idea. More breaks during the day, in the form of changing classes, and shorter more frequent classes (daily instead of two or three times a week) are a better way to learn, for children and for teens and for adults. How do we return to better schedules in high school and middle school? |
Anonymous
Agree, my kids hate block scheduling. I also like the idea of school starting after 9am. My teenagers complain about waking up so early and would prefer later start times. The ideal schedule for them would be : 9am-2pm 4 days a week (4 classes plus lunch - each lasting 45 minutes with 15 min breaks in between) Week long breaks each quarter Flexible lunch - eat off campus, outdoors, in their car, a classroom, etc. No mandatory PE. My kids exercise on their own time Class instruction by a teacher, not techbooks or PowerPoint slides. |
Anonymous
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Require less credits to graduate, thereby reducing the number of weekly classes, which could shorten class periods, which could shorten the school day/week.
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